Warnings over unsafe conditions at the Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick have been repeated, as the latest Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation trolley and ward watch report shows 41 people waiting on a bed today.
Nursing unions are meeting with HSE management this afternoon to discuss measures to ease the current bed crises at UHL, which is the only acute hospital in the mid west region.
When asked about morale among nurses at the hospital today INMO spokesperson Mary Fogarty said her colleagues were "completely distressed".
“Nurses are distressed by the fact that they cannot give proper care. They can’t come in and do proper days work and go home and say I did my job today. It’s firefighting that’s what they’ll tell you.”
According to Ms Fogarty, the HSE has been made aware on numerous occasions of the ongoing concerns for safety due to the overcrowding.
“We have repeatedly notified them of our concerns and they would accept the concerns we are raising but they seem to be unable to address the issues. Today’s meeting is to again see what they can put in place to address the issues rather than stuffing more beds into other parts of the region without resources that is making it more unsafe.”
The result of a ballot by INMO and Siptu members in the Midwest to hold a work to rule later this month over the issue is expected by next Monday.
Unions say one of the reasons for the ballot in Limerick is the decision to reopen beds in Ennis and Nenagh without staff.
According to Ms Fogarty there are 23 patients currently in a ward in Doordaoyle that has not yet received the €1.9m funding needed to staff it.
“There are 23 nurses needed for that ward and there are 25 vacancies also at the moment so there are 50 nursing vacancies in the hospital and that is just really difficult. One of the reasons we are balloting is because they want to open up beds again in Ennis and Nenagh which ordinarily we would have no problem with but they have no staff to do it,” she added.
Among those at the A+E department in Limerick today was Brendan O’Gorman from Garryspillane Co Limerick, who was sent to the ED by Shannon doc after midnight on Monday with a fluid build up in his knee.
Twelve hours later the 51-year-old was preparing to go home after waiting several hours to have the fluid drained from his knee.
He described the scene in the A+E when he arrived as chaotic.
“It was chaos. There were a lot of patients in the A+E waiting room. Some said they had been there since 6pm and 7pm. It took a few hours to see a nurse first and then several more hours before I saw a doctor,” he said.
He said the staff were “rushed off their feet.”
There’s nobody standing around in there and it certainly looks like they need more staff and room to be able to handle that number of patients.”
Nursing unions say there has been no curtailment of elective activity at University Hospital Limerick despite the pressure within the Emergency Department.
In a statement issued on behalf of UL hospitals a HSE spokesperson said where possible patients are being transferred from UHL to Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s for ongoing treatment and elective non-emergency surgery has been deferred.
“January is traditionally a very busy time in the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and as expected the hospital is seeing an increase in emergency presentations,” said the spokesperson.
“Amongst the key factors contributing to the increase in pressure within the ED is the older age profile of patients presenting and the complexity of issues they have. As a result, we are experiencing delays in discharging these patients home or to other appropriate settings. We are working with our colleagues in the community to secure extra beds to address these delayed discharges,” the statement added.